


Hey You, Remember My Name

by TinySpiney



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Tragedy, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Half-Siblings, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, Gavin Reed-centric, Gen, Good Friend Tina Chen, Good Parent Carl Manfred, Heavy Angst, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:41:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28252575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinySpiney/pseuds/TinySpiney
Relationships: Carl Manfred & Gavin Reed, Cole Anderson & Gavin Reed, Connor & Gavin Reed, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed, Gavin Reed/Original Female Character(s), Hank Anderson/Hank Anderson's Wife, Markus & Gavin Reed, Tina Chen & Gavin Reed
Kudos: 3





	Hey You, Remember My Name

_ February 18th 2034 5:25 AM _

  
  


Gavin was sure he had been awake for more than thirty hours at that point, but all he could honestly ask for was beyond the OR doors. He sat in the uncomfortable teal plastic chair and checked his phone every few minutes. He knew that was going to end up killing the battery but he didn’t care. As long as he was present enough for any possible news, then everything was going to be okay. It had to be okay. Gavin switched between his phone and the clock up on the wall above the OR board, it was early. Ordinarily he’d be getting up and hopping in the shower before work right now. But there he was, sitting in a chair, waiting for his girlfriend to get out of the OR. Waiting to see if their child was going to be alright. He never particularly saw himself as the father type of person. He barely even knew his own. Though as soon as she dropped the news on him, everything stopped. She told him that regardless of what he said, she was keeping the child. She was excited. Then Gavin realised that he wasn’t just looking out for himself and his girlfriend, even though she could totally kick ass and he thought of that as rather attractive. But he was going to be looking out for some teeny tiny little human being. 

It was terrifying at first, looking into things and doing a bit of research on parenthood. Mostly biological functions that would be happening in his girlfriend’s body over the next nine months. Eventually it got to the point where Hank had to tell him to slow down. Apparently he was looking a little worse for wear on most days, one time Chris even teased him about knowing more about the pregnancy process than his own girlfriend might. At the time Gavin laughed, a breathy little thing, and told him that he’d understand when he was older. Everyone at the precinct thought that Chris would be the first to have a new family out of the fresh blood in the building. No one expected Gavin Reed, the rough and easily angered new detective, to be the one who would fall down the parenting rabbit hole and never seem to crawl back out of it. He certainly didn’t see anything like that in his own future anytime soon. 

Yet there he was in the uncomfortable plastic chair, checking his phone every five minutes. 

Realistically, he knew that it was good no doctors had come out to give him an update. That meant they were focusing on their work and that they were doing absolutely everything they could to ensure that his girlfriend and their child would be okay. Gavin read about the statistics, he read about how nearly 36% of cesarean births could have complications. Mostly with the surgical wound during recovery. Though hopefully something like that would be the least of Gavin’s worries. The chances of any complications concerning the baby were few and far between, thankfully, just breathing problems that went away within the first few days and the very rare possibility of being nicked while the surgeons made the incision. Both things that trained professionals would be able to deal with immediately and fix within a week. Which was such a small amount of time in comparison to the grand scheme of things. So Gavin had nothing to worry about. He knew the risks, he knew the benefits. His girlfriend had made the decision to get the operation done in the first place, he was just along for the ride. Ultimately it was her decision anyway, so he was more than happy to just be dragged along. He honestly wouldn’t have been able to handle having the responsibility of that choice on his own shoulders. 

Eventually though, a full hour passed before anyone even came to tell him anything. He knew there was potential for unusual bleeding, there always would be. There would always be risks when it came to surgery. Though the update he had received was more well-intentioned than someone delivering bad news. Apparently there had been brief complications with their child being sideways anyway, and apparently the kid came out a little blue. Gavin let out a small chuckle at the fact, his own mother said he came out much the same way. Less sideways and more blue, though. He thanked the doctor who came to give him the update and only requested that someone come tell him when he could go in and visit his family. The doctor gave him a nod and disappeared back through the OR doors. Not even ten minutes later, the same doctor was wheeling out his girlfriend and one of the other personnel was wheeling a small bassinet looking thing. The doctor nodded to him and requested he follow them back to the room his girlfriend was assigned. 

It was mostly silent for a while, but Gavin could only keep his questions to himself for so long. He quietly asked the doctors all of his questions and nodded along thankfully when they explained things to him. They actually seemed pretty surprised that he understood some of the medical terminology. The one who had his girlfriend, who seemed to be utterly exhausted and fast asleep, even commented on it and asked if he was a student. Gavin just shrugged and cleared his throat before explaining he was nervous as all hell and tried to understand everything he could. The one rolling the mobile bassinet put a hand on his shoulder, saying that he was going to make a damn fine father if that was how he went about things. Eventually the doctors dropped off his girlfriend and their child in their room and bid Gavin a good night. Something about being up at six thirty in the morning, having not slept since the day before, and being in a hospital room with a very small human being made Gavin’s head spin. 

He hoped that the doctor was right, he’d be a good father. He barely knew his own, Hank was the closest thing he had to one. But Hank was a good guy and always let Gavin know when he was out of his depth or doing shit the wrong way. Hank was a great guy, really. Sure he was rough around the edges and it was hell trying to work with him on some days. Though Gavin was the same way and he knew it, so he couldn’t really blame the guy. Besides, he had his own kid at home. Cole had to be...god, he was going to be three that year. It felt like time just flew right the fuck by. Gavin could remember Hank asking if he wanted to see him right after he was born. Such a teeny tiny little thing, a preemie apparently, but he had some damn good lungs in him if that screaming was anything to go off of. But he was happy and healthy these days, running as fast as he could to greet Gavin whenever he would come over. Looking into the bassinet, Gavin wondered if his kid would do the same thing to Hank. Because there was no way he wasn’t going to be a part of the kid’s life. They were some sort of family at that point; Gavin wasn’t about to start saying that Hank was his father, but that was practically what he was. 

With a groan, Gavin fell into the only moderately more comfortable chair next to the bed. Maybe he could get in a half hour of sleep or something before Fowler called trying to figure out where he was. It was worth a try at least, and he was pretty sure he had called Hank on the way to the hospital. Frankly he couldn't entirely remember anything aside from his frantic shouting that his girlfriend was about to have a baby. As well as her angered yelling that she wasn’t about to “have the damn kid in the car,  _ Gavin _ !” that stuck out in his mind in particular. If he really did call Hank and not some random contact in his phone, then everything was fine. Hank would tell Fowler, and Fowler would get someone to cover his shift for a couple of days, there would be no phone call to wake up his girlfriend or the baby. So with tired eyes he checked his phone once more, and sent a jumbled, but hopefully still readable, text to Hank saying he couldn’t remember if he called but he was in the hospital because his girlfriend had the baby. After a second he added on that once they got everything in order, he wanted Hank to come see the kid. Hank didn’t give a response because it was nearly seven in the morning and he was probably just starting to get ready himself. With an exhaustion Gavin had briefly thought he’d never experienced before, he closed his eyes and leaned back in the chair to sleep. He was going to have a pretty bad kink in his neck, but at least he’d have a little bit of sleep. 

Gavin next awoke to the sound of an infant’s crying. He had helped out Hank and Eileen enough times with Cole that he had that instinct that woke him up whenever a kid cried. He was instantly up and reaching for the baby when he saw his girlfriend stir and blink tiredly, Gavin sat on the edge of the hospital bed with a smile and handed the baby to her. Though for whatever godforsaken reason, the gravity of what was going on hadn’t settled into his mind until then. Gavin reaching out and handing  _ his child _ to his girlfriend. Gavin wouldn’t have been surprised if someone pointed out that he suddenly became very pale or looked like he was about to pass out. Being a parent was fucking terrifying already. What if he didn’t do something right? What if he scared his kid or they didn’t like him? What if something went wrong and he got his kid hurt by accident? Gavin ran his hands through his hair and watched his girlfriend open up her hospital gown to feed the baby. He really hoped that he wouldn’t fuck anything up. 

  
  


“Babe,” Gavin snapped out of his thoughts and stored into his girlfriend’s eyes, the stunning warm brown that had made her so enticing to him in the first place. “What do you think about Connor for a name?”

“Connor, huh?” Gavin scooted closer and very gently ran a finger down his son’s cheek. “I like it. It suits ‘im.”

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


_ September 23rd 2035 11:03 AM _

  
  


Not only was it Cole’s birthday, but it was a Sunday, too. Which meant that both Hank and Gavin had the day off and they were free to let their kids run around Hank’s backyard with Sumo in tow. Cole had just turned six that day, and took his role of the older family member very seriously. He tugged on Connor’s little hand, toting around the toddler and pointing out all of his favourite things about the backyard. Hank had laughed when Cole first started doing it; he kid did that every time Gavin stopped over with Connor. Though Cole shook his head and said that Connor was still very little and needed to know the important things about the backyard. It was time to go back inside for a while, just to relax and watch some fun movies for the kids. Eileen and Gavin’s now wonderful wife had hatched a plan to discreetly blow up a small inflatable pool for the boys and have a little bit of a surprise pool party for Cole. So in an attempt to keep the boys from figuring out what was going on, because Connor had some weird fascination with water and fish, Gavin and Hank ushered them inside and threw on  _ Brother Bear. _

The kids watched with rapt attention and were so invested in the story that neither of them realised when their fathers started a quiet conversation in the background. Then again, they were two and six, so they honestly probably wouldn’t have noticed anyway. It started out pretty routine; asking which cases were going well and which ones weren’t, asking about how the leads were coming in. Though it quickly delved past that and into how each of them were doing. Hank was quick to say that he was proud of Gavin. He had more or less watched him grow up from the loitering punk he used to be and into the well respected detective that everyone grew to know him as. Gavin shot back with how Hank really seemed to grow soft around people at the precinct, he used to be quite a bit tougher on people before Gavin joined the team and before either of them had become parents. Hank waved away the praise and nodded toward the floor in front of the couch, to the boys who were huddled up together and leaning back against Sumo who just layed there completely unmoving because he was big and content and lazy. Gavin couldn’t help the grin that spread on his face and he jabbed a thumb in their direction, saying that he completely understood why considering just how wonderful and loving their kids were. 

About halfway through the movie though, Connor seemed to be falling asleep against Cole’s side. Gavin decided to just let him be for now. It wasn’t very often that he and Hank had days off that happened to line up, which meant that Cole and Connor didn’t always get to see each other as often as any of them wanted to. So it couldn’t hurt to let Connor curl up against Cole’s side and fall asleep while holding onto his arm. It wasn’t until after the movie ended that Cole even moved, and even then it was just to wave his free arm to get Gavin’s attention and beckon him over. In a very serious voice, that Gavin had to try very hard not to laugh at, Cole explained that Connor had fallen asleep during the movie and needed his stuffie he usually slept with. It was adorable, watching Cole wiggle free of Connor’s grip and then skitter as quietly as he could over to the bag Gavin and Leslie had brought, and pull out the new small Saint Bernard plush Cole had picked out for him for his birthday. Gavin scooped Connor up into his arms, and whispered his thanks to Cole before laying down on the couch with Connor on his chest. He closed his eyes, listening as Cole was told that the little pool was ready for him. A soft chuckle passed by Gavin’s lips when he heard Cole state that Connor was taking a nap, so he wasn’t going to get in yet. 

The house was abuzz with everyone else moving about in the background. Though there Gavin was on Hank’s couch, and not for the first time either. He could remember starting out as a beat cop and getting kicked out of his apartment by his roommate, ending up on Hank’s doorstep and asking if he could stay just until he was able to get his own place. He ended up on Hank’s couch for probably around two months before he was able to find a reasonably priced apartment in the shithole that was Detroit, Michigan. Though it was so incredibly different now. Gavin laying with a toddler on his chest, married and living what he was convinced was his very best life. He genuinely thought he could die happy if this was what his life was going to be. Friends and family, birthdays and celebrations, generally just having a good time with the people he loved. 

Gavin lost track of time while she was laying on the couch, though he did instantly recognise Cole when he came over and decided to climb up on the couch, too. He laid half on top of Gavin, too, pressed up against the back of the couch. Gavin just let out a breathy laugh and wrapped one of his arms around the boy, gratefully taking the affection and pressing a quick kiss to his head to let him know it was reciprocated. They laid like that for quite a while, actually. Gavin genuinely didn’t know what time it was, and nor did he really care. He heard Hank and Leslie chatting in the kitchen, Eileen coming into the living room to whisper to Cole that it was time for him to open the presents his Uncle Gavin and Auntie Leslie brought him. Gavin finally opened his eyes as Cole tried to wriggle off of him and avoid jostling Connor, sticking his tongue out and trying his best not to fall. It was...adorable as all hell. Though instead of rushing into the kitchen like Gavin thought he was going to, Cole paused to press a kiss to Connor’s head and another to Gavin’s cheek. 

Connor started to stir at the movement and the excessive new sounds. Instead of just blinking and looking around like he usually did when he woke up from a nap, this time he burst into tears and started crying out for Cole. There was a very small window of time before Connor became inconsolable and everyone in the house knew it, Gavin sprang up off of the couch and nearly plowed Cole over when he rushed in to see him. The elementary schooler simply held his arms out and sat on the floor, requesting that Connor be sat in his lap. Once Connor was securely in his arms, Gavin had to look up at the other adults in the house to confirm his beliefs. There was no doubt that the boys loved each other. There was also no doubt in Gavin’s mind that Cole would eventually ask Hank and Eileen about having some sort of younger sibling. He was pretty sure that if Cole ever asked about it, Gavin would be the one explaining siblings and how there was no way one could escape them if they were starting to get fed up with their behaviour. Seeing as Eileen’s brother was out in North Dakota and Hank was an only child, Gavin would have been the next best bet. Curse having a brother that lived in the city. 

It actually had been a while since Elijah had seen Connor, Gavin thought that they could do with a family get together soon. He actually got along pretty well with Hank when they were younger. There wouldn’t be any harm in inviting Elijah over sometime soon and getting everyone under one roof to chat and let the kids run around. They’d probably have to go to Carl’s in order to all fit in one house. But fuck, if it wouldn’t be worth it to see the looks on the kids’ faces once they saw that taxidermied giraffe in the corner. Gavin slid his phone out of his back pocket, snapped a few pictures of the boys on the kitchen floor, and sent them to both Elijah and Carl. Carl responded with quite a few heartfelt words; meanwhile Elijah responded with a flurry of different heart emojis. Gavin kept one eye on the boys and the other on his phone as he asked about a get together at Carl’s, which was met with overwhelming positivity and pleas from Elijah to let him bring Chloe. Gavin looked up from his phone and at Cole. The kid had always loved androids, he thought they were the coolest goddamn things. So with a shrug, Gavin told Elijah he could. It would be next week, a sort of late birthday present for the boy. 

Looking back at the floor, Gavin grinned and opened his camera app to take a video. Connor stood in Cole’s lap, moving to press a somewhat shaky kiss to his cheek. Cole turned to press a kiss to Connor’s cheek, earning a laugh from the two year old, and honestly probably adding a whole decade onto everyone’s life spans in the process. What Gavin had ever done to deserve such an amazing family was beyond him, but he wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  


_ October 20th 2035 3:18 PM _

  
  


Gavin knew that it would be a bad idea to drag Connor with him to the funeral, but Leslie was out of Detroit until the end of the month for work and he couldn’t find a sitter so soon. But Hank needed someone with him, and Gavin had a sneaking suspicion that they both knew it wasn’t going to be Eileen. So there he stood next to the man who had become his father over the years and watched as they lowered a much too small coffin into the ground. Gavin watched as they lowered the body of a little boy,  _ his little boy, _ into the ground. Sure, Cole wasn’t Gavin’s son. But he was still a strong influence in the kid’s life and had made a lasting impact. A coldness settled behind Gavin’s eyes that he realised just a little too late was the precursor to tears. He tried to maneuver Connor a certain way on his hip so that he would be able to wipe the tears away with a free hand, though apparently the toddler had another idea. He deemed it fit to reach up to his father’s face, and wipe the tears away with his teeny little hands. Gavin managed an almost wet chuckle as he held his son just a little closer and pressed a firm kiss to his hairline. 

It wasn’t fair for him to still be able to hold his son, his wonderful little boy, while Hank was never able to hold his own ever again. Hank would never celebrate another of Cole’s birthday, wrangle him into the car, fall asleep watching movies together. There’d be no more late nights for either Gavin  _ or _ Hank. There was no more Cole for Gavin to stop over and babysit while Eileen was out. He wasn’t going to subject Hank to having to watch over Connor the nights that he was working and Leslie was out of town. It wouldn’t be fair to him. Then again, life wasn’t fair. If it was, then Cole would still be there. It would be a regular Saturday afternoon filled with laughter and joy and the sounds of a happy home. If life was fair, then Gavin wouldn’t be holding his two year old son flush against his chest and staring at Hank. The man who had somehow wormed his way into Gavin’s life and became somewhat of a father figure for him. Hank; who would smile at Connor every time he caught his eye, and promise that everything was okay and that they could go home soon enough.

Gavin knew he wouldn't be able to wrestle Connor into a little suit while they were getting ready, so he opted to just dress him up in dark jeans and a white tee. Though it was starting to get pretty late into the year, and he  _ was _ a little chilly. Eventually Gavin shuffled over to Hank and whispered that he’d see him back at the house. The older man seemed to understand entirely and nodded to Connor’s little body. Hank's voice cracked as he told Gavin to make sure the toddler gave Sumo lots of love as soon as they were in the door. What the hell was Gavin supposed to say to that? It wasn’t like he could just up and say that he didn’t like the way Hank had phrased the request. Especially not while they were at a  _ funeral, _ and he still had his son in his arms. Instead of possibly causing a scene, Gavin asked Connor to do exactly that, and the young boy enthusiastically agreed to it. 

True to Connor’s agreement, they ended up smothering Sumo with love as soon as they got their shoes off. Not too long after Gavin had gotten Connor to sit on the ground with the gentle giant, he received the question he wasn’t ready to answer yet. That he knew he’d never be ready to answer. Connor asked where Cole was. Not in a very articulate way, and not exactly like it was a pressing matter. It almost sounded more like he was just confused as to why his cousin wasn’t already sitting with him and Sumo since they were at his house. Gavin dragged a hand down his face, tears in his eyes and his voice slightly breaking as he knelt down on the floor. As the front door opened, and Hank very quietly announced that he was home. Gavin shakily sighed and tried to explain that Cole wasn’t going to be living there anymore. That Connor wouldn't see him again. Much to his bewilderment and surprise, Connor didn’t put up much of a fight. He accepted that Cole wasn’t there and curled up with Sumo, yawning as he said he’d see Cole the next time. 

As soon as Connor’s eyes shut, Gavin sat down heavily in one of the kitchen chairs. Right across from Hank, who was staring down at the wooden surface with an utterly haunted expression on his face. His eyes were almost an emotionless void. Right, this was always the hard part, too. Trying to comfort the person who had a loved one die. Though it wasn’t the same when it was a person’s kid. Gavin could never imagine losing Connor. If he did...it would wreck him. Turn him into a shell of who he was now. Of who he  _ liked _ to be. To try and shove the thoughts of what he would become if he were to lose his own child, Gavin hastily apologised for Connor’s attire and that they had to leave early. Though Hank understood. He gave Gavin a sad little smile and nodded to the boy and dog, whispering that he could tell the tot was getting tired at the service. He pointed at Gavin half-heartedly, joking that he needed a hug from the boy before they left to go back to the house. Not that Gavin had any plans to leave anytime soon. Eileen had just...left. 

The night of the accident, when they were told that Cole didn’t make it, she packed up her stuff and...left. There was barely anything left of hers in the house. Just a few pillowcases and a few articles of clothing that were in the hamper. Because of that, Gavin had no intention of leaving. He and Connor were going to stay with Hank for a few days. Not only would Hank still get the support he was so desperately going to need, but Connor would, hopefully, start to get a grip on the concept of never seeing Cole again. Before Gavi could get lost in his thoughts, he was shaken away from them by the sound of little footsteps on tile, and Hank making some awful exaggerated noise. Connor wasn’t actually asleep. Hank had just picked him up with a grin and sat the boy down in his lap, hugging him as tightly as he seemingly dared to. Connor quite obviously didn’t understand what was going on, he was much too young to. Part of Gavin honestly hoped that Connor wouldn’t remember any of this. It would save him the pain of mourning when he got older. Gavin knew just how much it could tear someone apart. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


_ December 3rd 2037 8:27 PM _

  
  


Gavin was no stranger to homicides, and he was no stranger to Leslie not coming home with Connor until late because she decided to take him for a playdate with one of her friends’ kids. What Gavin wasn’t used to was a homicide being the reason why his wife hadn’t come home with his son. It was supposed to just be a routine check of the scene and identify the body to tell the family. It wasn't supposed to be the on-call detective finding his own wife dead, shot through the neck, and his son nowhere to be found. Gavin turned the scene upside-down, screaming at the officers and CSI to give him anything they found. If they had anything, they needed to send it his way first, and then it would be taken back to the precinct for evidence. He assigned the new girl, her name was Chen or something else that was short, to listen over dispatch for any descriptions of children that fit his son. Small child, wavy chestnut brown hair, dark brown eyes, freckles and beauty marks all over his face. The outfit Leslie had dressed him in that day was some blue jeans, a white shirt with a dog on it, little orange and grey boots, and a dark blue winter jacket. 

Gavin stayed at the scene until everything had been tagged or bagged for evidence. It was already sunrise by the time the dispatch girl had come to him, saying that a John Doe that fit his son’s description had arrived at Detroit General and was undergoing some sort of surgery. Gavin didn’t thank her conventionally, but instead barked at her to get in the passenger’s side of his car to accompany him to the hospital. The very same one his son was born in; the very same one Cole was born - and died - in. Chen contacted the hospital while in the car, speaking loudly to be heard over the sirens while on the phone. Apparently he had some sort of deep laceration on his back, and it was someone’s android out for groceries that had seen a small child roaming by himself and crying. The thing prioritized the child that was quite obviously under extreme duress and contacted emergency services, and was waiting in the waiting room for it’s owner to come by and pick it up. Chen very suddenly told the receptionist to keep the thing there, they needed tech to probe it’s memory and grab the files that pertained to the little boy who was likely Connor. Gavin had to give it to her, the woman could keep her head on straight during a crisis, she was pretty damn good for a rookie.

The praise never came because they arrived at the hospital, the two of them leaping out of the car and Chen already on the phone with someone else about the android. When Gavin burst through the doors, he nearly burst into tears as he saw Carl. The man was in a wheelchair, but that didn’t matter. Gavin rushed over to him, falling to his knees and clutching at the painter’s hands, pressing his face into the fabric of his jeans in an attempt to shut out the world. He couldn't handle it if his whole world fell apart in one night. He couldn’t do that. He saw how Hank was coping with Cole’s loss, and he knew he couldn’t fall down the same hole. Though Carl took one of his hands back and carded it though Gavin’s hair, softly explaining that it was his caretaker android who had found the little boy. He also said that that thing’ name was Markus and it could bring up a picture of the child in it’s hand like some hologram. Gavin was up in an instant, albeit very shakily, and demanded that the android show him the image. Instead, it pulled up a short video clip. 

It started out with the sound of a gunshot, then of a woman screaming. Then the sound of two people in a fight, and the ripping of fabric. A frantic shriek sounded from the area and then a sound of something thumping against something else. Two men came running out from around the corner of the block, one of them looking terrified out of their mind and shoving past the android. One of them had a knife embedded into his upper chest and the android watched as it glinted in the street lights when it was shoved to the ground. It stood back up and instantly went into an alert state once it heard a child’s wails, dripping the bag of produce and rushing toward the sound. It spotted the woman on the ground, quickly bleeding out and her eyes rolling into the back of her head, bagging the android to help her son. She started twitching, but the android’s eyes were already searching for the little boy. An objective popped up in the upper right of it’s vision to do just that; it quickly faded due to finding the shaking and shuddering silhouette of a small child. 

It was of Connor, oh it was of his little boy, crying and shaking and yelling for his father. It’s eyes immediately zeroed in on the dark spot on Connor's back and identified it as human blood. It ran down his back and his legs, soaking his clothes. The android came to the conclusion that the little boy must have been in shock, otherwise he wouldn’t have been conscious. A quick scan passed over Connor’s face for a fraction of a second, and a picture from Carl’s house showed up in the android’s HUD, information popping up that it was Connor Reed. The android’s voice could be heard telling him that it knew his dad and that it was going to keep him safe until he could go home. The video showed the thing putting it’s hand out, and Connor being so very brave when he asked if the android knew his father’s name. It told him, and it even listened off Elijah and Hank as well as Leslie. Connor finally trusted the android enough to let it pick him up and start running with him. Every now and again the video would get this red tint to it, and a vitals scan would show up. It got worse and worse with every glance the android gave him. Eventually the vital scan was left up in the corner while the android told Connor he was very brave and that his parents loved him very much. Something flickered in the top right corner of the video - a software instability that Gavin didn’t care about - when the android stepped through the doors of the ER and told Connor that  _ it _ loved him. 

Gavin didn’t understand why, but he hugged the plastic fuck and thanked it for saving his son. Though Chen came over, putting a hand on his shoulder and reminding him that he needed to be realistic. Connor wasn’t out of the woods just yet. Apparently things weren’t booking too hot for him at the moment. So Gavin nodded dumbly, his whole body shaking as he slumped into the chair next to Carl and leaned against the man. He honestly didn’t know if he was ever going to recover from this. His wife was murdered, probably from a stray bullet if the way it went through the side of neck was any indication, and his son in surgery for a terrible laceration on his back. One of those men must have slashed at him, trying to scare Leslie. But she had already been shot at. Though it seemed to be a shot made in panic, maybe she scared them first. Leslie was a fighter, she had proven that many times while she and Gavin were still dating. There were even times that they used each other to spar with as a workout from time to time. She knew how to hold her own. Therefore she must have posed a threat, the shot went off in a panic; but then that left Connor. Poor Connor, Gavin’s little boy. 

Though any and all brainstorming Gavin was doin was thrown out the window by Chen jogging over with a doctor in tow. Chen’s face was red and blotchy, her eyes bloodshot. She avoided looking directly at Gavin. He was standing in an instant, demanding the doctor tell him that they did everything they possibly could have. That they fought to keep his son alive. The surgeon gave him an apologetic face, one that seemed to be genuine and sincere, and told him that they did. They even tried something experimental that was meant to somewhat restart the brain’s function, and that didn’t even work. Gavin just barely caught himself and spun around to punch the cinderblock wall, crying and shouting incoherently. Markus wheeled over Carl, and the elderly painter put a hand on Gavin’s side, softly telling him that they did everything they could. Right now there was nothing else that could be done except for building a good support system. Gavin nodded, not entirely there, and quietly apologised to the surgeon for his outburst. He actually forced a crooked smile and thanked them, saying he was glad they really did try everything. Gavin beckoned Chen closer, put a hand on her shoulder, and told her she kept her head on straight during a crisis that many others wouldn’t have been able to. He flashed her a smile and told her he was proud of her. Carl grabbed Gavin’s hand and tugged him along as his android pushed him out the doors. 

  
  
  


\---

  
  
  


_ August 15th 2038 8:36 PM _

  
  


Gavin sat in the breakroom, eyes glued to the television and watching the news broadcast. There was some fancy new android detective working as a negotiator on the scene. He snorted as he watched the snipers send bullets through the PL600 on the edge of the roof. The hostage was safe, at least. Gavin probably would have had to take more than a few days off if he witnessed that little girl go tumbling over the edge of the building. What Gavin found interesting was that he had no idea what model that android detective was. He knew enough from Elijah’s rambling over the years to have heard about every project he had. Gavin knew about Markus being an RK200, he knew about that android keeping the little girl hostage was a PL600, the CX100s had only come out fairly recently so it couldn’t have been one of those. It wasn’t until KNC swapped over to promotional images of the detective android that Gavin really felt anything other than mild annoyance. 

The damn thing looked so incredibly human. With it’s big brown doe eyes and that stupid lock of hair falling against it’s forehead. Gavin crushed the now empty paper cup and tossed it in the trash, grumbling to himself about androids. It wasn’t enough for Markus to not be able to save his fucking son. It wasn't enough for them to start taking jobs from real working humans who had families to provide for. No, CyberLife had to come for him, too. It had to come for him second fucking time. Creating an android that would be able to do his job, and do it significantly better and faster than he could ever hope to dream. Gavin sneered at the television until the promotional images faded and KNC went back to nightly news in lieu of recent events. Because of course, what did it matter that an android detective existed? What did it matter that humans would be left in the dust pretty soon, fighting for scraps in a world that would eventually end up being run by androids. What dd anything fucking matter anymore? Gavin could understand why Hank chose to lose himself at the bottom of a bottle. 

  
  
  


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_ November 6th 2038 12:41 AM _

  
  


He finally had the chance to get a good look at the damn android. Of course, it was too dark and he couldn’t actually get a good look at the fucking thing. But Gavin still watched it’s every move and was all coiled up, ready to pounce and shoot the damn thing in the head. Take out the trash kind of thing. The good thing about the stupid uniform it wore was that it glowed in the dark, and it’s model was writing on it’s back. RK800. That meant that this clever little jab at humanity was originally one of Elijah’s personal pet projects. Which in turn meant that Gavin could call up his brother, shout into the phone, and get information of the fuckin’ thing before it went Terminator and turned the tables. They were all lucky it had protocols in place to make sure it couldn’t hurt an actual human life. He had to give it to CyberLife though, they knew exactly what they were doing when they created the plastic asshole; it sure did look human, and that sure would freak out a deviant android. 

Gavin raised a brow when the RK800 turned to the one-way mirror and stared into it. What the fuck was it doing? It’s eyes flitted toward Gavin’s for a split second, watching his gaze and making eye contact for a fraction of a second before it turned around to look at the file on the table. That was...fucked up. That was way too fucked for him, nope, Gavin couldn’t handle that fucking sad excuse for an imitation of a human if it could  _ see through _ one-way glass. He watched the android with a weary expression, a bitter and angry feeling blossoming in his chest. Elijah must have left halfway through the project or something. Because there was no way he programmed that damn thing to have puppy eyes and then slam a file down shouting about twenty-eight stab wounds. Or maybe he did, Elijah was one unhinged and freaky bastard sometimes. But Gavin could think about his shitty older brother later, right now he was busy studying the android that threatened his job security just by existing. 

The promotional images didn’t really do the thing justice, Gavin had decided. It was tall, taller than him, and stood like it had a metal pole up it’s ass. It had some soft doe eyed stare that it used whenever it wasn’t doing...whatever it was doing by interrogating the victim’s android Though at one point those doe eyes came back, it pleaded with the deviant to tell it what happened. That it only wanted to help it and there was no way that could happen if it didn’t say anything. The real looking distress on it’s face, the strain in it’s voice, the way it moved. That RK800 was a piece of art, as much as Gavin hated to admit it. From the light brown hair, to the warm brown eyes, to the freckles and beauty marks scattered across it’s face. Hell, the thing even looked like it could have shaved recently if it was a fucking real person. It was mildly terrifying that CyberLife had created such a life-like android. But all Gavin had to do was remind himself that it wasn’t a real person. No matter how much it set off the uncanny valley part of his mind whenever he looked at it. Though he just couldn’t figure out why. 

The uncanny valley part of things was completely cast aside when Gavin walked in with Chris, telling the younger to lock up the defective machine sitting at the table. The thing had the audacity to try and struggle. To give humans, it’s masters by default, a hard time and try to shy away from the new cuffs Chris was trying to put on it. Then, in a flurry of greys, white, and blue, the RK800 had pulled Chris off of the thing and told him it was too dangerous for him to do whatever it was he was doing. Gavin knew that the first law of robotics was that no harm could come to a human life. He knew that the detective-droid was only doing it’s job. But He still pulled his firearm on it and threatened it, it’s programming to save a human life be damned. He was so close to shooting it in it’s perfectly human face. He would have loved to see the blue spurt out of the back of it’s head and spatter against the back wall. God, would that have been satisfying to do. Though the part of Gavin that still somewhat loved Hank even though he knew he shouldn’t have relented and made him put his gun down, cursing as he shoved his way past the man he once saw as his father. 

Whatever, he could unpack whatever it was that the fucking RK800 was after he got some sleep. Fuckin’ thing looked too much like Leslie for Gavin to think straight.

  
  
  


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_ November 6th 2038 10:01 AM _

  
  


That morning would have been pretty nice if Gavin didn’t realise he was rating and raving to Tina about the fucking RK800. He didn’t get the chance to interrogate his brother about the thing because as soon as he got inside, he locked his door and collapsed on the couch. Though she let him complain to her regardless, having become something like a younger sister to him and partner in memes around the precinct. Tina nodded along and would give input every now and again, sheepishly suggesting that he was being a little harsh with his assessments on the new android detective. When Gavin asked her why the hell she could ever see the thing as anything other than a threat to their job security, Tina just shrugged and said it reminded her of a confused little kid who only wanted to be praised for its good work. The scary part was that wasn’t entirely lost on Gavin. He could see it, how the thing seemed almost childlike and only wanted to please the people it was working for. It only wanted to be seen as doing a good job and that it was doing the right thing. Just like a little kid would. Just like Cole and Connor did. 

Gavin was ripped away from the mournful thoughts before they could even really begin and he was thankful for it. Though he wasn’t thankful for the damn RK800 being the thing that pulled him away from those thoughts. What pissed Gavin off the most was that the beauty marks on it’s face were the exact same ones his little boy had. That must have been one of the only things Elijah had been able to keep on the model. One of the only ways he could keep a memory of his nephew he loved so dearly alive. Gavin blinked away the memories before they could start to stab at his chest, and smirked devilishly instead. 

  
  


“Fuck, look at that…” Gavin clapped his hands a few times before continuing. “Our friend the plastic detective is back in town! Congratulations on last night, very impressive!”

“Hello,” The android tilted it’s head in greeting and Gavin couldn’t help but snicker. “My name is Connor.”

  
  


Instantly, his blood ran cold. Gavin stared at the android standing before him and Tina, and could see her glance at him out of the corner of his eye. Gavin swallowed forcefully and barked out a bitter laugh that sounded fake even to his own ears. There was no way that Elijah had given this fucking  _ thing _ the same name as his son. There was no fucking way that his own  _ brother _ would do that to him. 

  
  


“Never seen an android like you before…” That was an understatement. Gavin tilted to the side a bit, vertigo slightly taking him over in his near panicked state. “What model are you?”

“RK800. I'm a prototype.”

“A prototype? Android detective…” Gavin felt his body go cold at the admission of the thing’s prototype status. It really had been a project that Elijah was forced to abandon when he was booted from the company. The corporate bullshit forced him to leave behind some semblance of a dead loved one. Maybe that was for the best, knowing how unhinged Elijah had become in recent years. “So machines are gonna...replace us all...is that it?”

  
  


The android,  _ Connor, _ had the audacity to look worried. The thing furrowed it’s goddamn brows and frowned at him! Gavin listed a bit to the left, nearly collapsing. He probably would have been out cold on the floor if it weren’t for the android catching him and swiftly shoving him in his chair at his desk. The next few minutes went by in a blur, but Gavin knew that the android was by his side the whole time. At one point he was clear headed enough to actually look at the android, to grab it’s face in his hands and force it to look at him. It’s LED flickered red for a fraction of a second, then cycled yellow for a little bit, then went back to blue. Gavin snorted to himself, and shook his head before letting go of the android’s face. The thing disappeared for a minute. While it was gone, the world around Gavn resumed. Sounds found their way to his ears and sounded much too loud, the lights were too bright, and the fabric of his clothing felt way too rough suddenly. Though the android came back with a paper cup filled with steaming coffee. 

Hank came back to his desk, looking over at Gavin and the android with a sneer before telling it to get it’s ass over to the unused terminal. If it was going to be there, then it might as well make itself useful and make the case go by faster with that supercomputer of a brain it had. Gavin watched with rapt interest as it outright refused the order at first, rather preoccupied with studying Gavin’s face for a second before nodding to itself and turning on it’s heel to sit down t it’s terminal. It put a white hand down on the keyboard and looked back at Gavin, a crooked smile on its face that knocked the wind right out of the detective. 

_ His Connor used to smile just like that. _

  
  
  
  



End file.
